Rascals
' |image= |series= |production= 40276-233 |producer(s)= |story= Ward Botsford, Diana Dru Botsford and Michael Piller |script= Allison Hock |director= Adam Nimoy |imdbref=tt0708760 |guests=Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien, Rosalind Chao as Keiko O'Brien, Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren, David Tristan Birkin as Jean-Luc Picard (age 12), Megan Parlen as Ro Laren (age 12), Caroline Junko King as Keiko O'Brien (age 12), Isis Carmen Jones as Guinan (age 12), Mike Gomez as Lurin, Tracey Walter as Berik, Michael Snyder as Morta, Brian Bonsall as Alexander Rozhenko, Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan, Morgan Nagler as Kid #1, Hana Hatae as Molly O'Brien and Majel Barrett Roddenberry as Computer voice |previous_production=True Q |next_production=A Fistful of Datas |episode=TNG S06E07 |airdate= 2 November 1992 |previous_release=True Q |next_release=A Fistful of Datas |story_date(s)=Stardate 46235.7 |previous_story=True Q |next_story=A Fistful of Datas }} Summary Captain Picard, Guinan, Ensign Ro Laren and Keiko O'Brien are returning to the Enterprise from the beautiful planet Marlonia. Picard spent all his time in a cave finding archeological artefacts. But an anomaly causes them to materialize on the transporter pad as 12-year-old children. Although the four still retain an adult mind, the crew have trouble taking them seriously, and Captain Picard is convinced by Dr. Beverly Crusher to temporarily relinquish command of the ship. After turning over command of the Enterprise to Commander Riker, Captain Picard ponders resigning his Starfleet commission, albeit temporarily, in order to pursue other interests. Meanwhile Keiko and Ro find their own situations to be quite distressing. Keiko is dismayed by her husband's reluctance to be with her as she now inhabits the body of a prepubescent girl. She is further saddened when she is not recognized by her daughter. Ro Laren is upset at being reminded of her unpleasant childhood. Guinan, however, relishes the opportunity to be a child again. Though Ro initially is disdainful of Guinan's enthusiasm, she eventually softens and joins Guinan in jumping on a bed and other childish pursuits. Dr. Crusher determines the cause of the de-aging and postulates how to reverse the process under controlled conditions. Before they can do so, two Klingon warships decloak and attack the Enterprise. Ferengi pirates board the ship and take control of the bridge, but Riker manages to lock out the main computer, preventing the invaders from taking control of the ship. The Ferengi beam most of the adults on board to a nearby planet and corral the children, including Picard and his party, into the schoolrooms on the ship. Picard and his group try to use the classroom computers to regain control of the ship, but because of the computers' limited functionality and condescending interface, they must devise an alternate plan of attack. Picard pretends to be Riker's son and demands to see his "father," even throwing a tantrum until his demand is met. He asks Riker to unlock the computer console in the schoolroom, using the ruse that none of the computer games will work. After Picard is returned to the schoolroom, the lead Ferengi threatens to harm the children if Riker does not unlock the computer and teach his lieutenant how to operate the Enterprise. Riker pretends to instruct the Ferengi officer, but only spouts deliberately meaningless technobabble as he unlocks the computer console in Picard's schoolroom. Time is bought by the Ferengi demanding that Riker explain everything in detail, as the Ferengi do not want to appear incapable of understanding such complex information. With command function enabled, Picard is able to activate a transporter safety function. With help from Worf's son, Alexander, Guinan, and Ro, they use comm badges to trap most of the Ferengi on a transporter pad with their weapons disarmed and the exit blocked by a force field. Once most of them are detained, the children and Riker are able to overpower the remaining members and retake the Enterprise. The transporter is used to return Picard, Guinan, and Keiko to their adult states. Ro, buoyed by her experience, decides to remain a child for just a little while longer and draw some pictures, something she never did during her childhood. Errors and Explanations Nit Central # LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 11:40 am: I know Picard is only physically twelve in this episode, but even so, with his fighting experience, and his knowledge of how to use an opponent’s weight and inertia against him, he could have put up a better show of force with the diminutive Ferengi that captures him. constanze on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 2:04 pm: It doesn't matter how diminutive the ferengi is, he has a phaser trained on him! Even contemporary self-defense instructors will tell you that trying to disarm someone with a knife is much easier than disarming someone with a gun, because it doesn't need much for the gun to go off. And you stand an even worse chance with a phaser. BTW, where was it established that picard has fighting experience? I know of Riker doing anbo-jitsu with his father, but was picard ever engaged in hand-to-hand combat and did something like karate? In the first eps. it is established that the captain should stay on the ship, as he is too valuable to risk on away missions, and most battles are between ships (and wit) anyway. LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 2:57 pm: Anyone who’s been trained by Starfleet and achieved the captaincy of the flagship has fighting experience. We saw Picard in hand-to-hand combat in Sins of the Father, The High Ground, and ST Generations. # In the episode In Theory, Data told Geordi that the doors on the Enterprise are programmed to respond to humanoid life forms only. Makes sense. So how is it that the transporter room doors open for Alexander’s toy car? Probably the same way they open for Data! # In Act 5, Picard activates Alexander’s remote controlled car with the comm badge attached to it, bumping it into the Ferengi guard in the transporter room. When it does, we hear the familiar chirp of the comm signal, causing the guard to be transported onto the transporter pad. The only problem is, the comm badge is attached to the rear end of the toy car, not the front end, which is the end that comes into contact with the guard. They must have rigged a connection between the front bumper and the combadge. # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 5:21 am: Attempting to beam Picard, Keiko, Guinan and Ro off the shuttle, O'Brien says, "There's a 40% drop in mass. I may have lost one of them!" Since he was attempting to beam four people off the shuttle I would say he may have lost one and most of another. (It's not like one of the four was Scotty who I could see as 40% of the total mass.) Some of the missing mass could be from the shuttle. # With all that computer technology, why is it so easy for intruders to beam on board the Enterprise? Couldn't they add a scrambling frequency to their shields or when sensors detect an unauthorized transporter beam the pattern gets shunted to the transporter buffer? That could result in those systems failing to work properly. # Why didn't Worf fire when he saw the two Ferengi materializing? He had enough time. (How come we never see anyone firing at a materializing person? Is it considered to be 'cowardly?') Lolar Windrunner on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 8:39 pm: I think we never see anybody fire at a materializing individual because the ACB would deflect the shot. I think this was established in the episode where Riker was blamed for the murder of a scientist on a power station.Chris Booton (Cbooton) on Friday, April 12, 2002 - 12:26 pm: Or why don't they use force fields that can isolate intruders then pump knock out gas into their area (that assumes you want to take them alive, but since this is the federation that's a given) Seniram Either of those solutions could cause more problems. Mike Ram on Thursday, June 16, 2005 - 4:24 pm: In "By Inferno's Light," (DS9) the Jem'Hadar clearly shoot at a dematerializing Worf, yet the shot goes right through him. Maybe transporting somehow protects you from fire? KAM on Friday, June 17, 2005 - 12:05 am: I suppose there is that scene in A Matter of Perspective to back that up. Still, you see someone beaming in just wait till the sparklies stop & hit them with a stun beam. # Chris Booton (Cbooton) on Friday, April 12, 2002 - 12:26 pm: In the battle I don't get why they didn't try to simply disable the BoP's weapons. I mean a Galaxy class should be able to very quickly disable a B'rel without destroying it. People may complain about Janeway but at least she actually returned fire (even though she did wait too long in some instances , but that was because they could disable their opponent quickly and were trying to solve it peacefully) The Ferengi may have noticeably augmented the shielding around the weapons. # LUIGI NOVI on Friday, April 26, 2002 - 9:53 pm: In the teaser, Picard shows some of the artifacts of ancient Marlonian cookware in his "duffel box" to Guinan, and says they’re "very nearly in perfect condition." They’re in pieces. How is that "very nearly perfect condition?" constanze on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 2:04 pm: They can easily be glued together. Its rare to find unbroken pottery after a certain amount of time, but if all the pieces are there, and the paint is recognizable, so it only has to be glued together, I would think its nearly perfect. =Sources= Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation